When comparing Simplenote vs Draft, the Slant community recommends Simplenote for most people. In the question“What is the best cross-platform note taking app?”Simplenote is ranked 1st while Draft is ranked 40th. The most important reason people chose Simplenote is:

Unlike alternatives (such as Evernote) that are laden with features, Simplenote is fast to use and sync. Reviews from the [Verge][1], [Lifehacker][2], and a variety of other sources all describe using the Simplenote apps as very fast. While it may not be as feature-rich as other apps, the responsiveness of the app and simple interface keep it easy to use while never slowing down the user when they need to quickly take a note.
[1]: http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/18/4741908/simplenote-reborn-first-great-notes-app-ios-android-mac-web
[2]: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/07/the-holy-grail-of-ubiquitous-plain-text-capture/

Pros

Pro

Geared towards fast usage

Unlike alternatives (such as Evernote) that are laden with features, Simplenote is fast to use and sync. Reviews from the Verge, Lifehacker, and a variety of other sources all describe using the Simplenote apps as very fast. While it may not be as feature-rich as other apps, the responsiveness of the app and simple interface keep it easy to use while never slowing down the user when they need to quickly take a note.

Pro

Very simple and clean interface

Simplenote takes a minimalist approach to its interface. There are no toolbars full of formatting options or extra features like notebooks to group notes. The entire desktop interface consists solely of a sidebar with your tags and trash filters, the list of existing notes with search, a button to add a new note and a simple view for looking an existing note or writing a new one.

Pro

Works offline

Users can edit and create documents offline, can then sync their content the next time they are online. This way a user can work even when there's no data connection without the worry of losing work.

Pro

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

Each edit of a note is saved in order to allow the user to go back to a previous version of a document. This way, if mistakes are made or something is deleted, you can go back to the previous version without any hassle.

Pro

Markdown support via web interface

There is support for Markdown when using the web app. This can be convenient for those who want to use Markdown in a particular note.

Pro

Desktop app is open source

The desktop version of Simplenote is hosted on the GitHub and since it is open source, it can allow developers to fork the code in order to improve the app.

Pro

Can export your data

The program enables exporting of notes as text documents.

Pro

Linux client available

Pro

Wide range of great clients with great sync

Official native apps are available on popular platforms such as Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, OS X, Windows and Linux. Open-source clients extend this support even more widely to various other platforms, such as webOS and the BlackBerry PlayBook. These apps embody the core philosophy of Simplenote: minimalism and focus on the note taking.

There are multiple unofficial clients (including the excellent Notational Velocity and NValt, a fork of the app with markdown support and other goodies.)

Collaborative features

Pro

Excellent desktop client in the form of nvAlt

Pro

Markdown to-dos

Pro

Hemingway Mode

Draft will turn off the ability to delete anything in the document. It will be possible to only write at the end of what's already written. It won't allow going back; only forward.

"Write drunk; edit sober" -Ernest Hemingway.

Pro

Cloud sync

Documents can be imported from cloud services like Dropbox, Evernote, Box, Google Drive.

Pro

Version control

With documents shared with Draft, any changes collaborator made by collaborators are on their own copy of the document, and the user gets to accept or ignore each individual change made.

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Cons

Con

Search is limited to one tag

There seems to be no way to find notes that have both tag X and tag Y. This isn't a big deal until you have a large library of notes, and want to cross-search for two things at the same time to vastly narrow down your search.

Con

Limited ways to reorder notes

You are able to sort your notes alphabetically, date modified, or by last created. There is no way to drag and drop the notes to create a custom order.

Con

No support for file attachments

Simplenote doesn't provide support for embedded attachments. This can limit the use for some as many other note-taking apps do support this type of feature.

Con

No 32-bit version

Con

No widgets on Android

There is no way to view a list of the notes in Simplenote via a Widget on Android.

Con

No reminders

You cannot set reminders to revisit a specific note or complete a task.

Con

No way to import notes from anywhere

Con

The search function doesn't see tags

If you search for 'foo' you won't find notes with tag foo. In that regard, tags are completely isolated from the search.

Con

No way to bulk-apply a tag

This is a typical workflow action in other apps: Do a search, multi-select notes among the matches, then apply or de-apply one or more tags to all these notes at once.There's no way to do this in Simplenote. The only bulk operations are Delete and Pin-to-top.

Con

No notification when changes made on a shared note

Currently, there is no way to be alerted when a change is made by another contributor on a shared note.

Con

Save-to-disk feature is poor

The only way to download your data off Simplenote is via a "download zip" feature that unfortunately loses all the semantic structure of your data (tags, for instance).

Con

No integrated social media sharing

The only way you can share notes with others is with a link you're given when you publish your note. There is no integrated social media sharing if you directly want to post your note to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Con

Lack of color impacts usability

There are two themes available, the default theme and a dark theme.Both use only the single solid color (either white or black) for the background, so there is a lack of visual cues to separate what you're looking at.

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